My misspent summer

My long and magnificent summer vacation is over. I didn’t
do absolutely everything I’d planned over these three
months, like attend an outdoor evening concert with Ben
and bring a picnic basket dinner.* I didn’t bike the awesome
Minneapolis bike path nearly enough, either. Or make much
art, or work on my zine. But I did do some of the things
on my long and merry list. For example:

went to the Minnesota state fair with Ben and ate French fries and saw baby animals

knitted thirty cupcakes

ate prodigal amounts of fresh summer fruits, especially peaches and blueberries

finished reading the longest novel in the English language

grilled on the patio

haven’t worn long pants** since early May

sat on the porch and ate watermelon and spit the seeds in the yard

finally traded my Washington state driver’s license for a Minnesota driver’s license

made big batches of homemade tomato sauce

planted a backyard garden that actually yielded vegetables

listened to lavish amounts of NPR

baked a tart

kept the house groundbreakingly clean, and scrubbed the kitchen floor three times

enjoyed burritos, one of my favorite summer meals, for dinner at least ten times—with lots of fresh tomatoes and spinach and salsa and sautéed veggies and avocado…

finally hung out at the Tea House on 26th and Hennepin

made homemade ravioli***

watched fireworks

froze several pounds of fresh blueberries for winter

rested

* No particular outdoor evening concert. My passion for packing a picnic and taking it to the park for an outdoor evening concert cannot be overstated. It began to develop four years ago when Ben and I discovered Opera in the Park, an event at which Madison, WI locals eat delicious food and drink wine and listen to opera under the stars. It’s free and wonderful.
** Or closed-toe shoes, for that matter.
*** And pierogies!